LONDON (Reuters) – Aldi UK, Britain’s fourth largest supermarket group, is to end its click and collect service that was introduced at the height of the pandemic, the company said on Thursday.
Launched in September 2020, the service was initially introduced in response to the online grocery shopping boom that was fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
It is currently available in 174 stores out of Aldi’s UK total of 1,020, but the service will end on Aug. 18.
Unlike its traditional supermarket rivals — market leader Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons — Aldi does not offer a home delivery service.
Online’s share of Britain’s total grocery market was about 7% before the onset of the pandemic in 2020. It peaked at about 15% during the pandemic, and is currently just under 13%, according to industry data.
Aldi, owned by Germany’s Aldi Sud, and fellow discounter Lidl have expanded rapidly over the past two decades, transforming the UK supermarket scene and forcing traditional players to compete more aggressively.
However, recent industry data showed Aldi’s UK market share has edged lower. It was 10.0% in the 12 weeks to Aug. 4, down 20 basis points on the year, according to data published on Tuesday from market researcher Kantar.
News of Aldi’s click and collect closure was first reported by industry publication The Grocer.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
